Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Health the steps he will take to ensure that only appropriate content is put up on the website spunout.ie in future and if he will advise as to the funding that has been provided to this organisation over the past five years (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16074/13]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Health in view of the fact that State funding for the Health Service Executive ultimately is his responsibility, if he will explain at a time when persons are waiting on trolleys and thousands of persons are waiting for necessary procedures to be carried out each week, the reason the State is funding a website - spunout.ie - at a cost of €250,000 per year; his views on whether this is necessary and sensible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16271/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1129 and 1150 together.

The HSE funds external organisations such as SpunOut.ie to provide health information and support services signposting for 16-25 year olds on a wide range of health issues. These include mental health, obesity, tobacco, alcohol, suicide awareness and sexual health. The priority is to promote health and well-being and empower young people to make informed health choices to reduce demand on acute health services.

SpunOut.ie actively engages with the online community of young people to promote the health information and advice services on the site. In 2012, Spunout.ie had 1,087,442 site visits, averaging 2,979 visits per day. 46% of site visitors accessed the Health and Life section, 35% accessed the Find Help section. SpunOut also delivered a series of awareness and action campaigns engaging young people on topics such as positive mental health, cyber bullying and safe sex.

The HSE has assured me that they have requested that SpunOut review the content of their material and to ensure that systems are in place to guarantee that this process is rigorously applied to all content on the website. SpunOut has also been asked to provide a time-frame for all existing published site content, including the article on “threesomes” in question, to go through the revised content validation process. It should be noted that the original content of this article, was not submitted to HSE for review or approval prior to publication, however this has now been reviewed and validated. The HSE will also strengthen reporting requirements in relation to content generation, editorial and validation activity in relation to all Health topics on the site.

SpunOut.ie is co-funded by the National Office for Health Promotion and the National Office for Suicide Prevention. Details of funding for the last 5 years are as follows.

2008 : €165,000

2009 : €140,000

2010 : €133,000

2011 ; €130,300

2012 : €130,300